U.S. shutting down NYC jail where Epstein killed himself
The U.S. government said Thursday it is shutting down an embattled federal jail in New York City after a slew of problems that came to light following disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide there two years ago.
The federal Bureau of Prisons said the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan will be closed at least temporarily to address issues that have long plagued the facility, including lax security and crumbling infrastructure.
The facility, which has held inmates such as Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and mafia boss John Gotti, currently has 233 inmates, down from a normal population of 600 or more. Most of them are expected to be transferred to a federal jail in Brooklyn.
The decision to close the Metropolitan Correctional Center — billed as one of the most secure jails in America — comes weeks after Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco toured the jail and saw the conditions firsthand.
Until recently, the facility had been recruiting new staff. Now, employees are being sent letters notifying them of a reduction in force.
“In an effort to address the issues at MCC NY as quickly and efficiently as possible, the Department has decided to close the MCC, at least temporarily, until those issues have been resolved,” the Justice Department said in a written statement.
2 shot dead outside Illinois courthouse
Two men were killed and another was injured on Thursday in shootings outside a northern Illinois courthouse stemming from a long-running internal gang dispute, authorities said.
The shootings occurred after one of the victims, Victor Andrade, emerged from the Kankakee County Courthouse and was fatally shot by Antonio Hernandez, Kankakee Police Chief Robin Passwater said during a news conference.
Miguel Andrade then went to his car and retrieved a gun and engaged in a running gun battle with Mr. Hernandez outside the courthouse and into a parking lot in which Mr. Hernandez was killed, Chief Passwater said.
Nigerian gunmen free kidnapped students
Gunmen have released some of the children kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria back in May, some of whom were as young as 5 years old, the school’s head teacher said late Thursday.
Abubakar Garba Alhassan told The Associated Press the freed students were on their way to the state capital, Minna, but added he could not confirm the exact number freed.
Authorities have said 136 children were abducted along with several teachers when gunmen on motorcycles attacked the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Niger state. Other preschoolers were left behind as they could not keep pace when the gunmen hurriedly moved those abducted into the forest.
Mr. Alhassan did not provide details of their release, but parents of the students have over the past weeks struggled to raise ransoms demanded by their abductors. There was no immediate comment from police of the Niger governor’s office.